Quest for Small, Part 2: The Sublimely Ridiculous

Okay, okay...I suppose I should watch my punnish use of titles and make sure I can reuse them properly. But you see, with the announcement of this week's goofiness, I just had to use the "Quest for Small" title again. Note the addendum.

So now: EGAD! I've heard of making products just to fulfill Microsoft's oddishness, but seriously - did anyone actually expect to get work done with one of these?

Now, I'm not a big fan of Windows-based PCs to being with, as recurring readers of this blog will know. But I must deal with them from time to time as they are attached to much of my lab equipment and what gets brought to the dig by my co-op students and visiting firemen. Still, I found one of these lying on a lab table the other day and messed with it a bit. Aside from making my eyes need bifocals before their time, it was peppy enough. Apparently, these things run a standard version of Windows XP, and you just have to get used to the pen or thumbwheel to get around. But now Microsoft has made these sorts of devices "official" and (like the Tablet PC) are using their massive 5K kilo gorilla mass to get us (the normally unsuspecting consumers of the world) to "buy" into it.

But wait! There's more!

Not to just let the idle concept of a hand-held, pocket-fitting PC for traveling suits be the goad, Microsoft now hoists the dreaded iPod killer approach to their own site. Don't just take these with you to do work, they cry, take them to watch this week's episodes of "Lost" through Apple's iTunes! Play proprietary encrypted MP3 software on our un-open Media Player (while we carp incessantly on Apple's approach to doing so and not on Real Media's)! Bring World of Warcraft with you on the fly and watch it tank before you even log in!

Plu-eeezeee.

Don't buy this eye-candy. You want a hand-held device that lets you work remotely, watch movies, play games, etc. from Sony? Spend one-tenth the cost of this Microsoft band-aid driven UX180P and get a PSP. It has WiFi. It plays movies. It plays music. It synchs with Outlook. And the form factor and ruggedness has been tested for three years. Want to do mobile music and video? Get an iPod. If you must REALLY have mobility computing, then ditch the Windows anchor and examine the existing or state-of-the-art solutions that don't fail on a whim. You know their names...you just didn't think they'd be useful enough? Give me a break. Vote with your usability, not your eye-candy brain. Blackberry, Palm, cellphones, etc. If your mobility requires the ability to hook up and do PowerPoint at the other end, Palms do that. Heck, iPods do that! Don't kill your eyes over this so-called "need"...work with your brain, not the Gen. 01 junk Microsoft creates just to get your cash, Nash.

'nuff said...now get back to work and do it on something that won't make corneal replacements a thing of your future!